Analysis and comment on economic and political events affecting the business environment in emerging and frontier markets

The killing of Cecil the Lion was a senseless act, but far worse are the murders, political oppression, hunger, and economic devastation inflicted by Robert Mugabe’s government on the people of Zimbabwe

Pope Francis may be the most widely admired pope in recent times, especially among non-Catholics, but his encyclical “On Care for Our Common Home” contains language and ideas that should give pause to rationalists of every political and religious persuasion.

Since the break-up of the Soviet Union Kazakhstan has done far better economically than most of the other former Soviet republics, with per capita GDP rising from a little over $1,200 to nearly $14,000. But reaching its stated goal of becoming one of the world’s 30 richest countries by 2050 is far from assured.

I was recently in Pyongyang, at the invitation of the Korean Association for Economic Development, to participate in a two-day conference on special economic zones, co-sponsored by the University of British Columbia. It was one of the most surreal experiences of my life, which I am still trying to process.

President Obama received a lot of outraged criticism from the right during the 2012 campaign for his remark, “You didn’t build that.” What he meant, though he uncharacteristically said it in a fairly clumsy way, was that for every proudly self-made entrepreneur there is a huge web of supporting institutions and infrastructure built by the government.